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NEWS TIP SHEET Following are faculty sources at the University of Colorado at Boulder who can comment on academic freedom and freedom of speech in connection with the current debate over writings and statements by CU-Boulder Professor Ward Churchill. - Richard Collins, law professor and director of the Byron White Center for the Study of Constitutional Law, is available to discuss First Amendment rights, freedom of speech and hate speech. Collins can be reached at his office, (303) 492-5493.

Essa McGinnis Byyny, mother of Richard L. Byyny, chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder, died of cancer Saturday, Jan. 31, in Long Beach, Calif. She was 86. Mrs. Byyny had been ill for about three years. Chancellor Byyny had been in Long Beach this past week, arranging for home-hospice care for his mother. He was returning to Boulder Saturday morning to address current campus issues and learned of her death upon arriving at his Boulder home.

A panel of NASA and Mars experts will gather Feb. 12 to discuss results of the current Mars Rover missions and the future of planetary exploration at a public symposium presented by the University of Colorado at Boulder.

MEDIA- PHOTO ADVISORY At 8 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 31, CU-Boulder's Air Force ROTC will conduct a memorial ceremony on behalf of the Arnold Air Society for two CU alumni-astronauts who perished in the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle explosions.

Professor Margaret Eisenhart of the University of Colorado at Boulder School of Education will deliver the 96th annual Distinguished Research Lecture on Monday, Feb. 9, at 5:30 p.m. in Fiske Planetarium. The lecture, titled "Anthropologist of Education in America: A Life of Three-Sided Rooms," is free and open to the public. The talk is sponsored by the Council on Research and Creative Work through the CU-Boulder Graduate School and will be followed by a reception.

Smokers who want to quit can find support during a series of inexpensive classes offered by the University of Colorado at Boulder's Student Wellness Program. A Tuesday evening and Thursday day series of the "You Can Quit" classes will take place at the Wardenburg West Solarium, room 321. The Tuesday evening series will meet Feb. 3, Feb. 17, Feb. 24 and March 2. All sessions start at 5:15 p.m. The Thursday series meets at noon on Feb. 5, Feb. 19, Feb. 26 and March 4. The class fee is $25, and scholarships are available.

Officials from the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Department of Athletics respond to recent allegations. Statement By Phil DiStefano, Provost, University of Colorado at Boulder I am Phil DiStefano, provost of the University of Colorado at Boulder. Chancellor Byyny is out of state dealing with a family emergency and so cannot be here. He and all of us at the university are deeply disturbed by recent statements in the media regarding our Athletics Department.

Editors: A complete schedule of events is available at http://www.bsa.U4l.com/ . Spike Lee, independent film director, actor, writer and producer, will give a special guest lecture at the University of Colorado at Boulder in honor of Black Awareness Month on Wednesday, Feb. 4, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Macky Auditorium. A special showing of "Get on the Bus," Lee's film about a group of men headed for the historic Million Man March, will be held prior to the lecture from noon to 2 p.m. in Willard Hall, room 24.

Scientists at JILA, a joint laboratory of the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-Boulder) report the first observation of a “fermionic condensate” formed from pairs of atoms in a gas, a long-sought, novel form of matter. Physicists hope that further research with such condensates eventually will help unlock the mysteries of high-temperature superconductivity, a phenomenon with the potential to improve energy efficiency dramatically across a broad range of applications.

As cold weather continues in Boulder, fire safety officials are urging University of Colorado at Boulder students to check for discarded smoking materials and to never leave burning candles unattended. Already this winter, a CU-Boulder student narrowly escaped a house fire early New YearÂ’s Day that was believed to have been started by a discarded cigarette. Though there were no injuries, the fire caused $30,000 in damage and left the home uninhabitable.